Thursday, June 19, 2014

I got addicted to this cover of the Japanese version of "Let It Go" before I had even heard the English version. When I finally did take a listen, I realized that, as you might expect, the differences in the translation are pretty fascinating. Let's take a look! (By the way, I still haven't seen "Frozen.")

Notes:

The back-translation (of the Japanese into English, by me) is in bold.
The actual English lyrics are next to that in regular.
Places where the Japanese translator rhymed with English are in blue.
"Let it go" and its corresponding Japanese are in green. (You'll see why.)
Commentary is in italics.

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight / Not a footprint to be seen -- The snow has begun to fall, erasing footprints
A kingdom of isolation / and it looks like I'm the queen -- I'm all alone in a pure white world
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside -- The wind whispers to my heart
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried -- "You can't go on like this."Basically the translation is even freer than it appears at first. When you look closely, the image of the kingdom is gone and the idea that there is a storm instead her is lost, with the wind outside giving her advice instead.
とまどい 傷つき
誰にも 打ち明けずに 悩んでた
それももう やめよう

Don't let them in, don't let them see -- Confusion, pain
Be the good girl you always had to be -- I was worrying
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know -- without opening up to anyone
Well, now they know -- I gotta quit doing that

Lol, really though, when I started this post I had these ideas about where I would be like, "Huh, this part is translated quite freely," but when you look at it, it's all different. Oddly I don't feel that makes it a bad translation per se; it's fun to sing. I especially like all the blue here. When I noticed those spots that matched the English vowels I was really impressed.

Let it go, let it go -- I'll show you
Can't hold it back anymore -- my true selfLet it go, let it go -- I'll be me
Turn away and slam the door -- my true self
I don't care what they're going to say -- I'm not scared of anything
Let the storm rage on -- O, wind, blow
The cold never bothered me anyway -- I'm not cold at all

So the back-translation for ありのまま. I'm sure there are a zillion ways to do it, but I tried to make it something that could be repeated, like "Let it go." ありのまま means "as [x] is" so in this case, kind of like "as I am." So a literal (or even sense-literal…if that is a word) translation of "Let it go" it is not, but it captures the overall meaning of the song, I think. And it sounds great!!!! I wonder if a closer rendering of "Turn away and slam the door" would have seemed to random in Japanese? By the way, this is the only time "Let the storm rage on" gets translated as such.

It's funny how some distance -- All the stuff I was worrying about
Makes everything seem small -- seems it was like lie, huh
And the fears that once controlled me -- I'm already free!
Can't get to me at all -- I can do anything.
It's time to see what I can do -- How far can I go?
To test the limits and break through -- I want to test myself
No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free! -- Yes, I will change!In Japanese she's so confident she doesn't even think about the fears at this point! One thing you notice immediately about translated song lyrics is that the Japanese has to be less elaborate. Japanese may have the advantage space-wise when it comes to writing, because of kanji that contain a whole word per character or two, but in terms of syllables, English wins. There are nooooot a lot of one-syllable Japanese words.

Let it go, let it go -- As myself
I am one with the wind and sky -- I'll ride the wind in the skyLet it go, let it go -- As myself
You'll never see me cry -- I'll try leaping out into the world
Here I stand -- I'll
And here I'll stay -- never
Let the storm rage on -- cry again

Sorry, the back-translation for 飛び出してみるの is kind of wonky, but what else would it be? Maybe "I'm stepping out" would be better. "Coming out" brings up the wrong connotations. But yeah, here I guess she just wanted to emphasize the not crying and needed to devote some syllables to it. Syllable piggy bank is lowww.

My power flurries through the air and into the ground -- My imagination wraps the world in cold
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around -- Soaring high above
And one thought crystalizes like an icy blast -- Like a blossoming crystal of ice
I'm never going back -- I've made my decision
The past is in the past -- I want to shine!The back-translation for this part was kind of hard, but I imagine it was also hard to try to capture the English imagery in Japanese, so we're even, lol. It's interesting how the Japanese is affirming the future whereas the English is sloughing off the past.

Let it go, let it go -- This is fine
And I'll rise like the break of dawn -- I'll love myselfLet it go, let it go -- This is fine
That perfect girl is gone -- I'll believe in myself
Here I stand in the light -- Bathed in light
Let the storm rage on -- I'll be on my way
The cold never bothered me anyway -- I'm not cold at all

これでいいの is probably the closest meaning-wise to "Let it go" of all the syllables that stand in for it in the Japanese song. 自分信じて could probably have been something like 完璧じゃなくていい but what do I know?

She says she preps a lot to find out what movie itself is trying to say and then listens to the song repeatedly to translate, focusing on key words first (i.e. in this case, "Let it go").

She said matching the lip movements was really hard. "The part that is 'ari no mama no' in Japanese is 'let it go, let it go' in English. If you put importance on preserving the melody, only six Japanese sounds will fit. Plus her mouth is facing up, so the third and sixth sounds are limited to 'o.'"

Apparently she went through a lot of back and forth with the director to get the message right.

Her advice to people who want to translate lyrics:

"More than translating lyrics, you need to be able to write lyrics. Of course, knowledge of English (or your source language) is important, but expressing it in Japanese [your native language] is the real battle, so work to cultivate a rich vocabulary in Japanese through reading etc."